By Philip Brasher and Ellyn Ferguson, CQ Staff

Direct payments to grain and cotton growers would be eliminated and the two remaining subsidy programs would be consolidated in a farm bill that Senate authorizers will take up this week.

Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., said her 900-page committee draft would expand access to crop insurance “so farmers are not wiped out by a few days of bad weather.” Combining the surviving subsidy programs would give “farmers the ability to tailor risk-management coverage — meaning better protection against real risks beyond a farmer’s control,” she said in a summary of the bill.

The bill — which the committee is scheduled to mark up April 25 — would replace the programs with a revenue protection plan for farmers known as the Agriculture Risk Program. The program would provide “shallow loss” coverage for farmers who experience price and crop yield losses. Farmers with losses of at least 11 percent but no more than 21 percent could receive payment. Losses exceeding 21 percent could be covered by crop insurance.

The American Soybean Association endorsed the new program as a complement to crop insurance and praised the committee leaders for proposing no cuts to the federally subsidized crop insurance program.

The White House, Government Accountability Office and House Budget Chairman Paul D. Ryan, R-Wis., have all called for reductions in the federal subsidies for crop insurance premiums and the payments to the private insurance companies and agents that run the program. But Stabenow and House Agriculture Chairman Frank D. Lucas, R-Okla., have defended crop insurance subsidies and cuts by their committees are unlikely.

Lawmakers have until Sept. 30, when the current authorization (PL 110-246) expires, to come up with a new multi-year law governing farm policy, and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack urged them to move quickly.

“Farmers, ranchers and the men and women who live in rural communities deserve to know what the rules will be moving forward,” he said.

The Senate bill also wades into dairy policy by including provisions from stand-alone legislation (HR 3062) by Rep. Collin C. Peterson of Minnesota, ranking Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee. Current dairy product and income support programs would be eliminated and replaced with a program that would make payments to participating farmers when the margin between milk prices and feed prices shrinks to less than a specified level. Farmers would limit their production when market signals indicate there is a likelihood of prices dropping because of excess production. Milk processors oppose the Peterson proposal because of concerns it could limit milk supplies and drive up their costs.

The legislation would consolidate 23 existing conservation programs into 13, according to the summary of the legislation. The American Farmland Trust and the National Association of Conservation Districts responded favorably to the conservation program changes, although the bill proposes a reduction of $6 billion, or 10 percent, for the programs over 10 years.

The measure also would tighten rules to end abuses of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps.

Farm bills also include international food aid programs that advocates say are in need of an overhaul to make them more effective.

Oxfam America said the Senate draft would take steps toward improving U.S. food aid by expanding a pilot program on buying food in developing nations to meet food aid needs rather than shipping U.S. goods abroad. Supporters argue that the shift would bolster markets for farmers in developing nations and save money.

The bill also would restrict the practice by non-governmental organizations in recipient nations of selling U.S. food commodities in local markets to raise money to provide technical assistance to local farmers or to support other programs. Critics say such practices can disrupt local markets.